


Last Call

by Rafira



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cloud Strife Self Hate, M/M, Not Beta Read, Sefikura, Sefikura Week, Sefikura Week 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29010063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rafira/pseuds/Rafira
Summary: - Sefikura Week 2021 - Day 2 - New Beginnings -When Cloud left Nibelheim to go to university, he promised himself he would leave all his fantastical, idealistic and romantic ideals back home and grow up into a mature adult who doesn't need to rely on anyone else. But when he has a chance encounter on the university grounds, the silver haired man in question haunts his dreams and thoughts for months.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35
Collections: Sefikura (Sephiroth/Cloud) Week - Yearly Event





	Last Call

Sefikura Week 2021 Day 2. First Introduction

He hurried down the hallway, past the other shuffling students. He was already late, and didn't want the professor to notice him being tardy for a second time in the first week.

But if they didn't want him to be late, why were the buildings so far away?

Cloud guessed it was his fault for picking the classes, but he just couldn’t resist taking a class on motorcycle mechanical technology, even if it was a bit too practical for a first year engineering student.

Strike that, it was the university’s fault for tempting him in the first place. He couldn't just _not_ take it.

But now he was doomed to constantly be late to his intro to Engineering class, because he couldn’t drag himself away from the bareed insides of a motorcycle.

Cloud sighed, moving a bit faster past the bodies going in different directions. Weaving in and out, kind of like a motorcycle. He almost groaned at how one- track his mind was.

He slammed into something hard, and fell to the floor, his satchel falling off his shoulder. He noticed the vague likeness of a tall, broad man and long, pale hair, but then there were hands on him, pulling him up again. It happened so fast. In his head, something strange was going on. He felt a sudden feeling of panic, like he was in danger.

He could vaguely hear the other man asking if he was okay, but it felt so far away and blurry, like he was underwater.

“Sorry - I'm late” Cloud found himself saying, pulling away and disengaging, rushing off as fast as he could. The situation felt – not bad - but disconcerting, like he things were spiraling rapidly out of control and he desperately didn’t like it.

He had the sense that the other man wanted to say something to him, but he was gone as fast as his legs could take him. Back to familiarity. He felt grounded in familiarity – something he had spent all his life chasing.

He didn't dare slow down or look back, but a glimmering waterfall of silver hair like a moonbeam. It cut though him, like a stab through his torso. He didn't know why he felt like that, but it scared him to his core.

\--

It took a long time for the silver haired man to fade from his memory. It came and went in the moments when he was barely conscious, in flashes of emotions and colors, and often in his dreams in confusing, fantastical settings and strange outfits. He woke up from these dreams in a haze of complicated feelings.

It took months to fade, in drips and drags, until he was barely thinking of him. It felt more like a weird throwaway moment that had lingered in his memories due to the stress of that first week or so when he didn’t know what was happening, or where he was going. It helped that classes hit full tilt and he was so busy that he didn't have time to think about much. Then suddenly the semester was over, and he had time to spend with the small handful of friends he had made over the term, including Tifa, who had also come from the same country town as him but seemed to want to treat him better here then back at home.

Hesitantly, he went to the pub at the behest of Zack – met him in the year above, a fun, exuberant guy who invited him. He’s not entirely sure why Zack likes him, because he’s not very funny or interesting, just shy and awkard, but he’s trying so hard to force himself to socialize, and not be that awkward loser who no-one liked back in Nibelheim. He rolls straight towards the bar, past the other students, most older than him, past that big bear looking guy with strong dad vibes, and the brunette who always seems to be texting. He lets the first beer, then the second, lubricate his words a bit. It’s easier to pretend that he’s someone more confident, who doesn’t always answer too slow, or in more than one word.

Cloud leaned up against one of the pillars in the alfresco area, sipping his second beer. Some new small batch brewery, there seemed to be more and more of them popping up these days. He had to admit, it was nice to discover beers that were better than the shitty mandragora pilsners and mog light that everyone in Nibelheim drank. More and more, he was realizing that the shit he hated about Nibelheim was just because the shitty, small town people had bad, cheap taste. He had to admit, it felt a bit better to realize that just because he wasn’t like the people of Nibel, didn’t mean he was alone in the world. He was daring, a bit more every day. Trying to wear clothes that made him happy, trying to be a bit less standoffish.

A beautiful brunette sidled up to him, a pink sundress swishing with her movements.

“Hi, are you Cloud?”  
  
“Oh…” Cloud blinked at her. “Hey, yeah.”

“I’m Aerith, Zack’s girlfriend! He’s told me a lot about you, so I just wanted to come say hi!” her smile was sugar-sweet, green eyes crinkling.

“Ah,” he fought a blush, ducking his head slightly. “I hope he only said nice things.”

“They all seem to be true so far! He said he were cute, and a bit shy. I came to see if you were ok.”

He definitely felt himself blushing at that. Of course Zack would call him cute.

“Yeah I just…. Don't know many people here. But I'm enjoying myself. Thank you for checking in on me.”

“Well now you know one more! I’ll be around if you want to talk, ok?” she tapped Cloud on the shoulder, slender hand jingling with metal bangles as she slid away from him. He could faintly hear Zack cry her name out in joy, the tightly packed crowd around him surging like a moving, living beast of its own.

Cloud breathed in the silence. She seemed lovely, beautiful. A perfect match for Zack. He was surprised to hear that Zack mentioned him to her, just as he was surprised to have been invited in the first place. Zack was shining, popular, everything Cloud wasn’t.

He retreated further into the corner of the large beer garden with a fresh pint. It was a beautifully mild evening, and the pub was thrumming with noise and energy. He felt overwhelmed. He promised himself he would come out in a second, but needed a moment to compose himself. He pressed himself into a corner with a hedge, a bit hidden from the crowd. He took small breaths of the cool air, feeling his composure come back with the respite. He perched down in the lone stool in his corner.

The leaves rustle, a gentle breeze blowing through his little oasis.

And then he's there. The man from his – from his dreams, and if that doesn't sound overdramatic and too romantic then he doesn't know what does. He hates that all the stupid notions that he tried to leave behind in Nibel, when he was an idealistic child who believed in things like things getting better.

He's coming straight for Cloud. He tenses, then slowly forces himself to relax. The man glides over, wearing a silken button up and black slacks, looking like the classiest thing to ever be in this average university bar.

“Hello,” he says, in a smooth, low voice that suits him perfectly. “You may not remember, but at the start of the semester-“

“I bumped into you,” Cloud says, too fast and all in a rush, in an embarrassment gasp. “I didn't even apologize, sorry.”

The man seems relieved that Cloud remembered him, and a handsome smile graces his face.

“I'm just glad you were ok. Anyway, it seems we've both been pulled in by the black hole that is Zack, so we should probably make each other's acquaintance.” He holds out one hand. “I'm Sephiroth Crescent.”

Cloud took the offered hand and shook it with what he hoped was a firm grip. “Cloud, Cloud strife. Nice to meet you.“

“Likewise, Cloud.” To his surprise, sephiroth pulled up a stool and settled in close to him. Close though to bump knees, if he'd been of the mind to. Close enough to touch. His mere presence felt like it sent out a nervous energy thrumming through his whole body, the thrumming of a current from a live wire.

“So, how did you meet Zack?”

And just like that, he pulled Cloud into conversation. they spoke, and it felt so easy, as the topics flowed between them. It didn't feel rushed at all, or full of fake niceties and small talk. He was surprised at how pleasant it felt to talk to Sephiroth. He felt like he had spoken more then he had all year. He found himself readily offering his opinions on things he would have held back about. Sephiroth seemed so interested in what they were talking in, engaging him in the topics, offering his own advice, and directing the flow of conversation at all.

He learned that Sephiroth was a third year medicine student, but he was studying history on his own. He told Cloud about his passion for fine art, and didn’t seem to think Cloud’s more practical degree was lesser at all.

And when their knees did bump together, neither of them pulled back. After all, sephiroth seemed to have a lot of leg and it needed to go somewhere.

The touch electrified him. He wanted to pull further into the other man’s space, ridiculously he just felt like crawling right up on his lap and breathing into the smooth-looking skin revealed in a tantalizing triangle above his silken shirt. He swallowed, trying to quell those thoughts. Just another thing that he had to leave his small town for. But he didn’t know how he was meant to resist thinking of Sephiroth that way, not when he had so perfectly waltzed into Cloud’s life, being exactly his type, and cornered him in conversation. He felt so lucky, but at the same time he was so worried about when this would inevitably come crashing down on him. Things didn’t work out his way. This is how it would go. After all, his name was Strife, and he was just some surly, awkward, gay kid from the country and he didn’t deserve happiness.

Cloud could feel himself getting weary, both of being out so late, of fighting hard against his feelings, and having to socialize so long, but he was unwilling to pull himself away from the other man. It was only after last drinks were called that he shook himself out of the pleasurable bubble they had been in and realized with a shock that they had been talking for _hours._

“I'm so sorry,” he apologized to Sephiroth with a rush, standing too fast. “-for monopolizing all your time.”

“Don't apologize, Cloud, I was the one who came over to you. And it was a pleasure.” His voice is as smooth and silken as the waterfall of hair down his broad shoulders.

Cloud tried not to blush and isn't sure if he has succeeded. _Don’t romanticize this, Strife,_ he has to remind himself. “It was nice, thank you… it was nice to meet you properly.”

“Indeed. Would I be able to see you again?”

“That would be nice. I …to be honest, I feel very comfortable around you. Like I've known you for longer…” he murmurs, trailing off as his brain caught up to his mouth. Too tired, and a few drinks in.

“I feel that way too.” Sephiroth smiles, and Cloud can't help but admire how good it looks on him.

They slowly walk back out to the main area, neither seeming eager to rush back out. Zack spotted the two of them immediately. The area has cleared out, and only him, Aerith, and one of two people remain in his party.

“Oh, hey!” he exclaimed, trotting over. “I thought you two both left ages ago?”

“I was getting to know your friend Cloud here,” Sephiroth demurred, motioning to the blonde. “Apologies, Zack, but you know I don’t know your other friends too well.”

“Haha, getting to know Cloudy, huh? Wink wink, nudge nudge!”

Cloud tried hard not to flush again and is pretty sure he failed that time. He hoped the darkness of the evening protected him.

They wished Zack well and headed out to their respective lodging. He found himself turning back to Sephiroth, somehow unwilling to leave and break this energy that he could feel between him and the older man.

Might as well push his luck.

“So uh, any chance I’ll see you again?”

“I would love that, Cloud. Without being too forward, would it be inappropriate if I asked if I could take you on a date, perhaps next week?”  
  
“I –“ he stepped down hard, _hard_ , on that stupid fucking voice inside him that was so _so sure_ that not only would Sephiroth not be interested, but here the other man was asking _him_ on a date. _Holy fuck_. “Yes. Yes – did you want to exchange numbers?”

They switched phones for a moment, and when Cloud handed his phone back, he couldn’t help but notice how Sephiroth’s grip seemed to linger on his hand, long fingers stroking his hand.

They parted, finally, leaving with a promise of seeing each other again, and a suggestion of a beginning of something new.

**Author's Note:**

> You know that feeling when you’re with someone and it just clicks and feels right 😊


End file.
